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The denials and contradictions of a nation
We as a nation never seem to be tired
of chasing rainbows. We appear to be a nation in constant and chronic denial which
defends its omissions and commissions by finding some individual, family,
political party or foreign nation to blame for our failures. We spent the last
65 years justifying our miserable condition by blaming the western culture and
the divide and rule policy left behind by the British colonialists. Probably we
will spend the next 25 years, or even more, cursing the Gandhi dynasty and the
Congress Party for our problems. It took over 60 years for some to utter the
name of Mahatma Gandhi from their lips and acknowledge his mission for ‘Svachata’(sanitation).
But we will resist Gandhiji’s teachings
in ‘Hind Swaraj’, ‘My Experiments with Truth’ and the rest from being part of
the school curriculum. How long will this nation find scapegoats to dump the
blame for its self-inflicted miseries?
The nation is presently ecstatic
with its new found political wonder drug that promises ‘Acche din’. It is
blinded to see that the slogan of ‘Minimum Government and Maximum Governance’ also
leaves ample scope for emergence of a ‘One Man Government and Maximum
Governance’. This Lok Sabha Election 2014 was in a way historic for many
reasons. Almost 50% of the voters were said to belong to the age group from 18
to 35 years, but it was disappointing that the fast invading casino culture led
some to reduce this election to a game of Chance by laying their bet on those well
known for their non-inclusive and undemocratic ideology. The protection of the
basic tenets of our Constitution never seemed to be an issue in this election.
The severe bouts of mass hysteria against corruption occasionally witnessed in Young
India did not stop the exchange of cash-for-votes and polarisation based on
caste and religion in these elections, nor has it helped make the young
citizens any more responsible in fulfilling their fundamental duties and have
some respect for the fundamental rights of fellow citizens. Such vigorous and
extravagant propaganda blitz said to be worth around 4500 crores that got employed
by a single political party was perhaps never witnessed in the country’s
election history over the last 60 years. Yet, an otherwise conscious citizenry who
is quick to condemn high expenditures by Ministers by citing that 27 crore
people live below the poverty line, have now been mysteriously silent on such
lavish expenditure by a single political party in this election. Should we not
be concerned about whose money it was that made possible this extravagant propaganda
blitz? Is it not our concern whether such money pumped in for elections was
about charity or whether it was advanced with an understanding that it will be repaid
at public cost?
The problems that were claimed to
plague this nation for several months seem to have vanished from our TV screens
overnight. It is amazing to see how the elite sections are exhorting us to
forget the past, leave aside our differences and work together for the future
of the nation. They want us to forget George Santayana’s famous saying that
“those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” While the
cyber crime machinery of the State is eager to prosecute those commenting
against a particular politician during elections, it is not known to show similar
enthusiasm in intercepting filthy, vulgar and morphed MMS clips of some very
senior and respectable political personalities that are being circulated via
internet ever since the poll results.
For the moment everything that
the new Government touches is projected as turning to gold. The recently
perceived hostile neighbors were shown queuing up for the installation bash of
the new PM, as if to say that this was the first PM of free India being sworn in. The decisive
mandate seems to have suddenly given this Government the license for wild
imagination and innovative ideas even to the extent of entertaining thoughts of
scrapping Article 370 from the Constitution and revamping the entire education
system in this country. We hope the foreign terrorists awaiting trial in Indian
jails will now have to do with a pure vegetarian diet instead of their favorite
chicken biryani which was the cause for heartburn against the previous
Government among certain sections of our society. Probably, the days of cricket
pitches being dug up in the event of an Indo-Pakistan cricket match. The
innocent soldiers on our borders who continue to be massacred by Pakistani
forces seem to be no more a concern for forwarding Indo-Pakistan relations.
And as the saffron Goebbels can
only be expected to work overtime to further ignorance and distort information
to the public, the hypocrisy and contradictions of an Indian society gets increasingly
amplified. One yard-stick when employed by one Government becomes a cause for
controversy whereas the same adopted by another government comes to be seen as
progressive and innovative. We have suddenly shifted our focus onto how the
body language of our PM is matching or even dominating over that of the leaders
of neighboring countries rather than looking at how the long-standing
contentious foreign relations issues are being trashed out. We just refuse to speak
about how our new Government which functions in a Parliamentary system borrowed
from the west, which Gandhiji had equated to a sterile woman and prostitute,
can be expected to deliver non-corrupt and pro-people governance. We repeatedly
try to duck the question as to how an exploitative western capitalist economy
can ensure self-reliance and sustainable development for us the people of India . For, we
well know that failure of industry to get its way with Governments cleverly gets
construed as policy paralysis. But a society in chronic denial fails to
understand even simple logical reasoning. All one can do at this moment is to
keep repeating the truth despite all humiliation and mockery, so that a lie
repeated a thousand times does not replace the truth in democratic India.
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